


Strex Family Avatar AU

by Jathis



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, crossover - Fandom
Genre: Avatar, Canonical Character Death, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Mind Control, Multi, Strangulation, Strex Family, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-04
Updated: 2015-08-27
Packaged: 2018-03-21 05:38:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 38
Words: 20,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3679953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jathis/pseuds/Jathis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when two nerds decide that the Strex Family should be put into their own version of the Avatar The Last Airbender world?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Power of Air

**Author's Note:**

> Something Soupengine and I have been doing over on Tumblr I thought I should share here as well.
> 
> Cecil, Carlos, Dana/Vanessa, and Kevin are a mixture of our own headcanons put together.
> 
> You can find artwork by Soupengine on her tumblr! http://soupengine.tumblr.com/

Ricardo snickered to himself, leaning back in his chair as he picked up his cup of tea, letting the palm of his hand start to heat up to ensure the liquid was at the proper temperature. He glanced over at Sergio, noticing the way the Waterbender had tensed up, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly as he glared at their guest. “Sergio…”

The younger man glanced over at him, still frowning a little, “hm?”

“Go and get Luciano.”

“Why?” Sergio asked with a frown.

The Firebender rolled his eyes, waving a hand in Sergio’s face in dismissal as he said, “just go and get him.” Sergio opened his mouth to argue further but was cut off by the look on Ricardo’s face., promising him that everything was under control. “Now then,” Ricardo continued, turning back around to face the group sitting across from them at the table, flashing them a bright smile, “where were we?”

“The Fire Lord demands an explanation for your…family.”

“Well when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much…”

“Every single one is an enemy of the Fire Nation,” the other continued, narrowing his eyes at the smiling Ricardo. “Or did you forget that Waterbenders were supposed to be left to dry out and die?”

“Sergio focuses more on plants than water…”

“And that Earthbender Caesar and his Waterbending sibling Noah..!”

“The Santiagos have served the Fire Nation’s soldiers well in the past and the present and I doubt that they will cease being useful even now.”

“…not to mention the  _Airbender_ …”

“Did someone mention me?” All conversation stopped as Luciano stepped into the room, followed close behind by Sergio. The masked man smiled brightly, offering Ricardo’s guests a sweeping bow, his ribbon covered braid tumbling over his shoulder. “I do so enjoy being the object of conversation!”

“Ah! Luciano, there you are!” Ricardo laughed. He held up his cup in greeting before gesturing to the three nervous looking men now. “These three seem to be under the impression that our family should be wiped out if they’re not Firebenders!”

“Really?”

“Yes, why don’t you educate them on why coming here and threatening the family was a gross miscalculation on their part, hm?” Ricardo didn’t bother to react when the table was turned over, simply sliding his chair back as he sipped his tea, watching as Luciano surrounded himself in a protective whirl of air, his feet leaving the ground. “I’ll be sure to let the Fire Lord know that sadly his three messengers were…attacked on the way here. I’m sure he’ll understand. War tends to have casualties and all that.”

“You son of a..!”

Luciano flipped open the cover to the small piano he wore on his hip. Gloved fingers slid over the keys and he hummed happily, the sound filling the room. A moment later he concentrated on one sharp sounding key in particular, focusing his energy on it to make it stretch and strengthen. The sound flowed from the piano and the surrounding air rippled and shifted, seeming to thicken around Ricardo and Sergio and thin out around the interlopers, making it easier for the air to force itself into their heads, piercing eardrums and making them burst.

The Airbender giggled to himself as he watched the three Firebenders struggle to keep their balance, finding themselves suddenly in a world of nothing. “It’s a shame no one ever lasts more than one time,” he cooed, holding out a gloved hand. He pointed at the one who was trying to make fire, and he started to force the air out of his lungs, watching as the startled man’s mouth was forced to open as a stream of air came out.

“Fire tends to need  _air_  to live,” he hummed, performing this act two more times on the others. Happily he took all three streams and mixed them together, making a large ball out of it as they collapsed to the floor, gagging and spluttering as their bodies were left with nothing. “I wonder if this is the same as drowning in water…what do you think, double mine?” he asked, looking over at Sergio.

“Most likely,” Sergio said with a shrug, “although we’ve never really compared people’s reactions to the two before.”

“Next time the Fire Lord sends people to scold us,” Ricardo promised.


	2. Brothers of Blood and Earth

Caesar feels his brother’s body hit the ground long before he hears someone shout out what has happened. The Earthbender slams his feet on the ground, bringing up a large clump of earth before throwing his arms out, riding over the earth as he makes his way over to where Noah has fallen, his heart racing and his blood pumping.

He can see Earthbenders from the Earth Kingdom surrounding Noah and he moves as fast as he can, making a bowling gesture to rip up some of the ground, throwing those who were unprepared back and away from the Waterbender. He leaps off of his transport and lashes out, shattering a large rock that has been directed at his face with his fist before sweeping the attacker’s legs out from under them with his foot, crushing their throat a moment later with a well-aimed stomp.

“Noah!”

“Damned knee…” Noah snarls, pushing himself up into a sitting position. “Caesar? Caesar, you broke formation?!”

“Less arguing and more helping, please!” Caesar shouts back, raising up a wall of earth to protect them and give Noah time to get up onto his feet.

“You think anybody is paying attention?”

“Brother!”

Noah rolls his eyes, snorting as he reaches out, smiling to himself as he makes the blood inside of the dead bodies start to flow again. He plucks the bodies up from the ground and forces them to lunge at their comrades, snickering to himself as he watches the living become both horrified at the sudden attack, which then allows Caesar to lash out and finish them during their distraction.

“…You always have too much fun using that,” he notes when the battle quiets down.

“I love being a Bloodbender,” Noah snickers, gripping onto Caesar’s arm for support.


	3. The Gardener

The three non-benders climb over the wall with ease with their tools, landing in a crouch in the garden that is up on the rooftop of the fortress. They frown to themselves when they discover the dense and heavily populated garden but focus back again on their mission of assassination instead, parting ways and slipping through low hanging vines and flower covered branches.

They’re supposed to be there to kill as many members of the Family as possible before retreating back to the Fire Lord’s palace. Their inability to bend would hopefully keep them cloaked from being detected until their job was finished and evidence pointing at the Earth Kingdom was planted.

No one notices the way the vines start to weave around each other, closing behind them as they pass through, blocking off their way back to where their gear lays.

No one hears when the first assassin has a spiked vine lash around his throat and tighten until he cannot scream out for help, dragged barely struggling into the surrounding foliage to be used as fertilizer.

The second assassin lets out a scream when she is attacked and she struggles uselessly as she is grabbed by several large carnivorous plants and pulled down into their open maws just as the third assassin comes into view to see this happen.

“Shit!” he hisses and he turns to run, only to find himself blocked by a tight wall of spiked vines.

“You came here to cause harm to my family. I do not appreciate such attempts made against them.” The plants that have finished digesting the woman turn and press against Sergio lovingly and he smiles and idly strokes the tops of their heads for a moment, taking his eyes away from the assassin. “Now…allow me to show you what happens to those foolish enough to wish death on my loved ones.”

Sergio smiles as choking vines and wispy branches start to surround him and he locks eyes with his victim, standing tall and proud before allowing them to lunge forward.


	4. Voice of The People

The people of Desert Bluffs wait excitedly to hear from their Voice. They are all gathered in the main square of the city, talking softly amongst themselves. The air is thick and vibrating with excitement and it only grows when the long red curtain hanging at the back of the stage shifts and suddenly their Voice is walking towards the podium, smiling as wide as ever as he walks with Ricardo.

Kevin Free spreads his arms out wide, laughing as there are cheers and shouts all around. He turns and offers Ricardo a polite bow, standing up straight as the Firebender takes a seat, allowing him to speak. “Good morning, Desert Bluffs!”

The crowd listens in rapt attention as Kevin tells them about the progress that has been made by Ricardo’s forces; (and isn’t it so amazing how everyone can hear him so clearly and concisely?). Kevin is such a wonderful speaker and Voice for the people! He always cares about them.

Everyone has just been doing an  _amazing_ job expanding his territories and the Fire Lord is just so very  _pleased_  with how many people have been brought into the fold. Everything has been going so amazingly so far and all they have to do is focus their efforts on a city that is so very similar to their own; the city called Night Vale.

“And Night Vale has a Voice just as we have, Desert Bluffs!” Kevin continued, turning his head this way and that, making sure that he looked around the crowd to include everyone. “And just as we were so very  _silly_ ; Night Vale and its Voice might need some convincing too! But I’m sure that we’ll do our best, Desert Bluffs! We always do!

“We are as strong as ever! And we will stay strong as long as we listen to Ricardo and the Family’s instructions!” Kevin continued, raising up a hand in the air, pointing at a small patch of unoccupied ground. He made a fist and then there was a boulder rising from the ground, breaking in half cleanly before falling back to the ground.

“And now…here are some words from Ricardo! I know you’ll all listen to him just as much as you listen to me!” With that, Kevin turned and walked away, slipping behind the curtain as Ricardo stood up and took his place.

The body crumpled to the ground as soon as it was out of sight and Noah and Sergio hissed to themselves in pain after cutting off control. It was always hard on the two controlling the corpse for so long and was the reason why the Family had decided to make the speeches shorter and less frequent.

“The blood in there is getting too sluggish for me to control the mouth as well as I used to!” Noah protested, huffing as Caesar picked the body up and placed it in a well-sealed chest to keep it clean. “And Luciano! Could you  _please_  stop making Kevin use so many large words?! It’s such a pain trying to make the mouth match!”

The Airbender sniffed a little, closing the lid on his piano hanging at his hip. “It’s not my fault that I’m trying to appeal to the common people with intelligence and wit.”

“You both still have no idea how to make proper Earthbending motions,” Caesar sighed.

“Shut up,” Noah countered.

“Some of these plants are starting to break through the skin,” Sergio muttered, frowning to himself as he noted several buds poking through Kevin’s legs and arms. “I’ll have to put in some new seeds…try to make sure the vines growing inside remain wrapped around the bones so I can move the limbs.”

“Who knew that using a human corpse as a puppet could be so difficult,” Luciano hummed.


	5. Welcome To The Family

Noah hissed as another piece of the building behind them is torn off and hurled just over his head, pulling his hair out of its braid from the force behind it. “Can you try  _not_  to blow my head off?!” he hissed through gritted teeth. He yelped when his little brother grabbed him by the wrist, yanking him down the streets again. “Caesar! Wait…wait! My knee..!”

The younger brother let out a sharp whistle and a moment later a massive Dogbear was barreling towards them, her tongue lolling out of her sharp-toothed mouth. “We have to get out of here before those soldiers find you,” Caesar warned, helping to sit Noah down on the animal’s back. He patted her head absently when she moved to nuzzle against him, grunting as he climbed up onto her back a moment later.

“No one’s going to find me,” Noah assured him with a roll of his eyes. “No one knows that a Waterbender lives here!”

“Find that Waterbender!” someone shouted in the distance.

“…Omashu is a big city there’s no way they’ll…”

“Find the Waterbender named Noah Santiago!

Caesar gave Noah a look over his shoulder and the Waterbender pursed his lips in annoyance. “That doesn’t prove anything,” he insisted.

“Brother…” Caesar grumbled, kicking his dogbear into a run, clutching to the thick fur around her neck for support.

“We’re going to be  _fine_.”

“The Fire Nation is sacking Omashu!”

“Okay but I’m fairly certain we’ll be able to slip through the cracks!”

“Noah!”

“And what are you going to do?” Noah countered, wincing as he gripping onto his little brother’s waist, trying not to let his hands tremble. “You’re not a soldier, Caesar. You’re a mailman.”

“I am well aware of my employment status, thank you!” Caesar countered, looking over his shoulder to shoot Noah a look. “Mailman or not I’m not going to let them…” He was cut off when Noah let out a shout of surprise, pointing ahead of him with wide eyes.

“FIREBENDERS!”

“What?!” With a surprised hiss, Caesar yanked back on Berry’s neck fur, forcing the dogbear to come at a skidding halt. He barely had time to raise up a roll of stone in front of them, blocking them off from the advancing soldiers. Several balls of flame however managed to puncture through the stone and Caesar yelped, tugging on his animal’s fur to get her to turn around and run in the opposite direction.

“Okay so maybe this is actually a problem,” Noah confessed.

“You think?!” Caesar countered, growling in frustration when their path was cut off again, forcing him to throw up another defensive wall that promptly became riddled with holes. “Which way do we go now?! We can’t go down because that’s where they’re coming from!”

“But if we can’t go up either,” Noah pointed out with a frown, running a hand through his hair as the wind started to pick up, blowing it in his face. “I really just…”

_You could try going through._

Both brothers perked up at that, bracing themselves for some kind of attack as they tried to find a source for the voice. “Whose there?” Noah demanded.

_If you want to get out of here without being burned to a crisp, I suggest you follow my instructions. Now, tell your pet to head up towards the palace._

“I don’t know about you but I’m pretty sure trusting random voices isn’t a good idea,” Noah snorted, crossing his arms over his chest.

_Or you could end up in one those cages the Firebenders made up just for Waterbenders. I’ve been told by a very reliable source that every passing moment feels like death itself happening over and over again._

“Yeah, okay so where are we going?”

_Just follow my singing, hm?_

Caesar cocked an eyebrow at that. “Singing?” he asked.

_DON’T STIFLE MY CREATIVITY, EARTHBENDER!_

The two shared a look before shrugging. What did they have to lose that wasn’t already at risk by staying here and  _not_  listening to the voice? “Come on, Berry! Good girl!” he said, urging the dogbear to move as the voice started to sing. To their surprise they found that their journey was far easier by listening to actually where the singing was coming from and before they knew it the two brothers found themselves at the very outside of the parameter surrounding the palace.

“That’s close enough!” the voice suddenly chirped and they looked up, frowning as an oddly dressed man in a mask floated down from the roofs of one of the houses.

“…Airbender?” Noah asked. “That’s…”

“And a Waterbender living in an Earth Kingdom city is just as impossible,” Luciano countered with a sniff, adjusting his mask and braid. He perked up a little as a man in Fire soldier armor approached and he held up a hand to calm Caesar and Noah down, smiling brightly as the other removed his helmet.

“I hate these helmets…”

“Oh but you always look so handsome in the uniform, Sergio!”

“I’m not sure how I should take that,” he muttered. He perked up when a head-sized rock was suddenly lifted into the air, aimed straight at his face. “Excuse me..?”

“I want an explanation before this goes through the back of your skull,” Caesar growled.

“Oooh this one’s feisty!” Luciano noted, a nervous giggle escaping him as he looked over at Sergio, shifting a little closer as he flipped open the lid to his small piano, ready to protect him if it came to that. “What shall we do?”

“It’s fine,” Sergio sighed, removing a canteen from his hip. “I am well aware of how I look in this uniform. I assure you that it’s only for appearance sake in these kinds of situations where Ricardo has to give off the appearance of a loyal Fire Nation supporter,” he explained, untwisting the cap.

“And I’m supposed to believe that?” Caesar demanded. “What’s to stop me from smashing your head in?”

“Well there’s me making your brains leak out from your ears for starters,” Luciano chirped.

“Luciano…”

“Well he’s threatening to kill you, what am I supposed to do?”

Sergio sighed but said nothing else, calmly making the water in the canteen spiral out and rest against the palm of his hand, holding it up for the two brothers to see. “Do I have yer attention now?”

“Sergio, your accent is slipping, dear.”

“Caesar, please don’t kill the Waterbender trying to get us out of here,” Noah pleaded.

Caesar sighed, allowing the rock to fall to the ground, allowing himself to finally relax. “So…what happens now?”

“We git you two out of here quickly, quietly, and safely,” Sergio answered, allowing the water to flow back into the canteen. “You’ve been adopted into our lil family so to speak. You’ll be safe and you’ll be part of something important.”

Noah cocked an eyebrow at that. “Like what?”

Luciano smiled brightly, toying with the ribbon in his braid as he said, “we’re going to kill the Fire Lord and control the world!”


	6. The Start

There’s screaming. There’s screaming and there’s shouting and it doesn’t sound like any of his people are the ones starting it this time. Maybe it’s one of those Southerners starting trouble again? He hopes not. Last time someone started trouble everyone lost their half a cup of water for the week and he was fairly certain that a lot of people died after that.

He can hear bursts of fire going off and he flinches against his chains, shutting his eyes tightly as he turns his face away, pressing it against his arm. They’re starting another cull. They’re thinning them out again. He’s terrified that they’ll start going down his line again and he knows that they’ll kill him this time around.

And for a brief moment he thinks that he wouldn’t care if they killed him.

The screaming and the shouting continues and then suddenly there’s the sound of metal breaking and before he knows just what exactly is happening; he’s falling to the floor of his cage as his manacles snap off of thin and heavily scrapped wrists. Through blurred vision he can see that there are people running and he forces himself to get up, staggering to the open door of his cage and stepping down.

He lands poorly and one of his throbbing ankles twists, making him crumple to the ground. He does not have the strength to push himself back up and he can only watch as people…his people and the people from the South run past him. He opens his mouth but its so dry and cracked that he can only let out a croak before giving up. Then there are heavy leather boots standing in his field of vision and he lets himself slip into blackness, expecting to be dead in the next moment.

* * *

When he wakes up again it is with a jolt and a gasp. His vision is still as blurry as ever and he blinks rapidly, frowning as his hands clench and unclench around the soft material draped over himself. He can feel something small on top of the covers and he touches it with a shaking hand, discovering them to be glasses. He grabs them and slips them on, gasping as his world finally focuses for the first time in a very long time.

He is in a bedroom. He is wearing clean clothes and his wrists and ankles are wrapped in clean bandages to keep out infection. Beside the bed there is a small table and on that table there is a pitcher of water and a glass.

Immediately he snatches up the pitcher and he starts to drink from it, uncaring of how some of the water spills down his neck and over his clothes and the blankets. It’s been so long since he’s been able to actually  _drink_ again and he just…

“Slow down. You’ll make yourself throw up and that’s really gross.” He gasps at the sudden intrusion, hugging the pitcher to his chest as he looks at the man standing in the open doorway with wide eyes. The man offers him a smile and a friendly wave of his friend, flashing his white teeth at him. “Hey..!”

He’s a Firebender. His clothes and accent are obvious.

In a flash he dunks a hand into the pitcher before pulling it out, his fingers covered in water that has formed and solidified into claws. “No…” he whimpers, wincing at how raspy his voice still is from disuse and constant dryness.

“If I wanted to kill I could have done it after helping your people off that island.”

“…What?” The Firebender steps into the room, unafraid of the threat and suddenly he feels very foolish. Quietly he allows the water to flow back into the pitcher, refusing to loosen his hold on it. It’s the most water he’s had in a long time and it brings him comfort.

“My name is Ricardo,” the Firebender says, sitting down beside his bed in a chair. “I’m the reason why you’re alive right now.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s possible to rule all of the Kingdoms without killing everyone in the process,” Ricardo explained. “We can work together, you know. You and any other Bender who wants to help me. It doesn’t matter what kind. It’s more productive that way. A better army and a better strategy.”

He hesitates a moment, clearing his throat and immediately regretting it for a moment. He looks back over at the Firebender, chewing on his bottom lip before opening his mouth to say, “like a family?”

Ricardo smiles brightly at the Waterbender’s words and he nods his head in approval. “Exactly! We’ll have a Family of a select few. Anyone can become part of that Family.”

“…Luciano?”

“You have a friend named Luciano?” Ricardo asks. He watches as the Waterbender nods and he shrugs before nodding again. “Once you’re feeling better you can go and get this Luciano of yours. But first you need to get better, hm?

“But first things first; what’s your name?”

“Sergio.”

“Sergio…my name is Ricardo. Welcome to the Family.”


	7. Random Assortment

“The body’s decomposing too fast.”

“Shit.”

“My vines are becoming more and more visible and we can’t keep pumping pigdove blood into the body for you to try and control the fine motor movements anymore. It’s not working.”

“ _Shit_.”

“This is bad…”

Noah looked over at the frowning Sergio, biting his lip before looking back down at the corpse in the chest. “Does Ricardo know yet?”

“No, not yet.”

“Shit!”

“So…who is going to tell Ricardo about this?” Sergio suddenly asked.

The two Waterbenders locked eyes, a long stretch of silence building around the pair.

“We should wait until someone else discovers it and let them do it,” Noah said.

“Yes, perfect,” Sergio agreed with a nod.

*** * ***

“CAESAR!”

The Earthbender gasped in surprise at his brother’s shout, wincing when he dropped one of the crates of packages back down to the ground with a smash. “Ah! Noah! What..?”

“Stop flirting with everyone while you’re at work!”

Caesar blinked at Noah in confusion, pouting at him before turning back to focusing on raising the crate up onto the chute one story above him, sending it sliding on its way down. “I _don’t_  flirt with people while I’m working,” he said.

“You do.”

“I don’t!”

Noah gave Caesar a look, holding up a small stack of papers in one hand. “Then what’s this?” he demanded.

“I don’t know?” Caesar offered, cocking an eyebrow as he caught a crate coming towards him before once again sending it up onto its designated chute.

“Every day when you come home from work your pockets are full of people’s house numbers!”

“It’s not my fault people give them to me!”

*** * ***

Ricardo smiled to himself, idly moving the wooden figures over the map laid out over the table. They were moving closer and closer, quietly eating up cities and towns that lay on their path towards taking over a large part of the Fire Nation’s territory. The army of followers was growing and with that so too did his own power and influence. He had received word from Diego that the towns surrounding his own personal home were still as pliant as ever, ready and willing to fight at his word.

All they needed to do was take Night Vale and use their Voice’s body as a puppet to guide their army…

He laughed when he heard the all too familiar sound of someone trying and failing to sneak into the room. He rolled his golden eyes and waited for the burst of flame to streak towards his back before whirling around, holding out the palm of one hand. He “caught” the ball of fire in his grasp and quickly guided it back to where it had come from, watching as a tapestry burst into flames seconds before a black-clad woman staggered out with a muffled curse.

“The Fire Lord still sends assassins? Too afraid of openly challenging me? Good,” he purred, blue flames bursting in the palms of his hands as he idly advanced. “If he’s still sending people like you…that means he’s still unwilling to stop me and I can assure you…he is going to regret that hesitation!”

*** * ***

“Do you ever think about going back and warning them about the Fire Nation’s plans and traps? Maybe offer them somewhere safe to hide?” Sergio asked.

Luciano blinked at the question, eyes widening slightly underneath his mask before he turned his head to look at the other. “Why ever would I do that?”

“They’re your people.”

“Aha correction, dear brother mine. They  _were_  my people.  _They_  were the ones who sent me away,” Luciano reminded him, one gloved hand toying with the bottom of the glove on the other hand. He frowned briefly, old memories bubbling up to the surface.

“Luciano?” Sergio asked, placing a hand on the other’s arm.

Luciano perked up, flashing Sergio a bright smile as he said, “besides…all of you are my family now, yes? I don’t need to worry about some old monks who think destroying something as beautiful as this,” he let an errant bit of wind ruffle his braid, making it rise and fall back down into place, “is important for some kind of spiritual awakening, hm?”

Sergio chuckled but nodded his head at the odd Airbender. “As you say, double mine.”


	8. Have A Wife

Sergio wasn’t sure if he should be on alert or relaxed when Ricardo stepped into the room with a wide smile on his face. He crossed his arms over his chest, regarding the Firebender with a single raised eyebrow. “Yes?” he finally asked.

“Sergio! Come with me! I’ve got something important to show you!” Ricardo said, grabbing the other by the arm and pulling him out of the room, leading him down the hall and to the parlor where guests were usually greeted.

“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” Sergio said with a frown, following after the other.

“You don’t need to have such a feeling!” Ricardo laughed, looking at him happily, “Want to know why?”

“Do I get a choice?”

“I found you a wife!”

“What?!” Sergio stopped walking then, pulling his wrist out of the other’s grasp.

Ricardo rolled his eyes and turned around, placing his hands on his hips as he looked at him. “I know that you still have some…issues with Firebenders. So I thought…why not find you a Firebender for a wife! She’s perfect for you! I promise! You two will go so well together, Sergio! It’ll be a beautiful wedding and…”

“Sergio is getting married?” Luciano asked in surprise, poking his head out of his room.

“No,” Sergio said.

“Yes!” Ricardo countered.

“Ricardo…”

“She’s waiting for you and everything has already been arranged for the wedding. It’s happening in two months and…”

“I would have liked to be involved in that,” Sergio grumbled.

“Oooh a wedding!” Luciano cooed, smiling brightly as he stepped out to join the two. “I wish to play music at the ceremony!”

“Hey great! That’ll save me money on hiring musicians!” Ricardo agreed.

“I never agreed to get married.”

“Oh and we simply  _must_  have it up in Sergio’s garden,” Luciano continued, pushing Sergio along as Ricardo tugged on Sergio’s arm to pull him along again. “Caesar and Noah could help with preparations! It’ll be so wonderful and..!”

“No one is asking if I want to get married.”

“I’ll make sure it’s a big event,” Ricardo agreed. “Everyone in our territories will hear about it. Even people in the Fire Lord’s territories will hear about it! What better way to look good other than a beautiful wedding between two compatible lovers, hm?”

“Like a fairy tale!” Luciano chirped.

“Exactly!”

“NO ONE HAS ASKED IF I WANT TO…”

The doors were pushed open and Ricardo stepped to the side, revealing the sole occupant inside. She was dressed in a gown of reds and yellows, a gold and ruby choker around her neck. She turned to look at the three stepping inside, her cheeks turning a bright red as her eyes immediately fell on Sergio’s. “…hello.”

Luciano glanced over at Sergio when he did not immediately respond. He sighed and rolled his eyes beneath his mask, gently pushing the Waterbender closer with a gust of wind. “Use your words, Sergio.”

“…Hi.”

“They’re such a verbose and articulate pair,” Luciano quipped to Ricardo.

“Let’s give them some privacy,” Ricardo agreed with a knowing smile, taking Luciano by the braid to pull him out of the room. The doors closed behind them, leaving Sergio and Stella to get to know each other better.

Later everyone would agree that their wedding was one of the most beautiful ceremonies anyone in the Fire Nation had ever seen.


	9. Siren Of The Swamp

There was a siren living in the swamp. She was a thin creature with long flowing hair of deep black streaked in glittering silver. You could not get a look at her face but you knew where she was by the sound of her singing and by the way the winds picked up, pushing you closer to her soft voice. She would guide you to her and then steal the breath out of your body killing you and leaving your body to rot in the swamp.

_At night when the lake is a mirror and the moon rides the waves to the shore…_

Of course no one who had ever gone into the swamp ever returned…so there was always a chance that this wasn’t  _exactly_  what happened. The locals however insisted that this story was true however an the returning Waterbender was not in the mood to argue with anyone. Sergio knew for a fact that the siren was not a woman. He also knew that the siren was not a siren. He was an Airbender and he desperately needed to find him before he completely lost himself in his madness.

_A single soul sets his voice singing content to be slightly forlorn…_

He remembered when he first met Luciano, back when he was first learning how to control the plants that lived in the swamp. Sergio had been forced to teach himself everything that he knew, being born into a family of non-benders. Their home was near the swamp and it was as good of a training place as any for him.

_A song rises over the lilies, sweeps high to clear over the reeds, and over the bulrushes swaying, to pluck at a pair of heartstrings…_

Luciano had nearly killed him back then and had only failed because of a lucky vine managing to strike him in the throat, cutting off his shrieking. They had managed to become friends after that; Sergio keeping the lonely Airbender company after learning that he was an exile and had been wandering alone.

_Two voices now they are singing then ten as the melody soars…_

The Fire Nation soldiers had been looking for Benders who were not Earthbenders. It had been easy for Luciano to flee but Sergio had lagged behind, caught in one of the traps set up in the twisting and confusing landscape of the swamp. Then there was that island…and the cages…and the pain…

_'round the shimmering pond of our joining in song as it carries their reverie on!_

It had taken Sergio a year to recover enough for Ricardo to think it safe for him to go and collect his friend. From the stories the locals were telling he could tell that Luciano had not fared very well by himself and Sergio braced himself for a confrontation as he stepped into the familiar swamp, skimming the waters in search of the Airbender once again.

_Over the treetops and mountains over the blackened ravines…_

It didn’t take long for Sergio to hear the singing and feel the change in the winds. He couldn’t help but laugh to himself, shaking his head as he listened to that familiar voice. He wasn’t exactly sure why the locals thought Luciano was a woman with a voice like that but after telling him that  _no one_  left the swamps alive…he supposed it was just the idea that all sirens were women.

_And softly it falls by a house near a stream and over the garden wa…_

“Luciano!” Sergio shouted, cutting off the song, “Luciano, where are you? Don’t make me start throwing vines around again!” The winds and music immediately died away, leaving Sergio with nothing but the natural sounds of the swamp. He crossed his arms over his chest, waiting patiently for a response. “Gone a whole year an’ my friend doesn’ come to see me?” he asked. He smiled at the sound of footsteps running towards him.

Luciano showed himself to the other, brushing aside hanging vines and other foliage as he stared with wide eyes. “…Sergio?”

“Well I’m not a random traveler you kin lure away to kill with that voice of yer’s.”

“Oh! Oh, Sergio!” Luciano let out a sob and lunged forward, throwing his arms around the Waterbender, sobbing against his neck. “I thought..!”

He held the other close, rubbing his back in slow soothing circles. “Come…we’re getting out of here. We’ve got a new home and family to get back to.”

“A new family?” Luciano asked, wiping his eyes as he looked at the other.

“Hoy, a new family and a new start. You’ll like it. You won’t have to worry about being alone anymore.”

Luciano sniffed, struggling to adjust his wild looking braid with a modicum of pride. “I do so dislike being left alone, Sergio darling.”

“Obviously. You start killing people.”

“I needed their supplies.”

“Mm.”

"The ends justify the means, darling."


	10. The Contest

He carved the ring out of the ground, humming to himself as he made sure that the inside was devoid of any imperfections. He made the ground as compact and flat as possible, humming to himself as he worked. Once everything was finished he looked up, flashing a comforting smile at the group of POWs they had taken during a recent scuffle.

“So…here are the rules,” he began, idly walking towards them, remaining inside of the ring as he did so. “I am going to stand in the middle of this ring. Your goal is to either incapacitate me or run past me out the other side of the ring. Anyone who manages either gets to leave and has the full blessing of the Family to do so without any harm coming to them. Sounds reasonable, right?” He waited as if expecting an answer, humming as he idly stepped into the very center of the ring, placing his hands behind his back.

“Ready? Go!”

He waited patiently, allowing the prisoners to make it a third of the way through before lashing out. He made the ground open up, swallowing half of the prisoners and shattering their lower bodies, leaving them stuck into the ground as if they were flowers. A few errant fireballs were thrown at him and he moved a few steps, dodging them before raising up several chunks of the ground, throwing them back and shattering bones on impact.

Caesar perked up as one non-bender managed to come straight at him and he held still as she swung at him, her fist connecting with the side of his face. His head snapped to the side and he reached up, grabbing her wrist in a tight grip to hold her still. He smiled brightly as his green eyes seemed to glow with hidden malice, hidden by how warmly he spoke to her. “That was your free hit! Congratulations!”

He broke her wrist with a sharp twist before shoving her backwards, using another rock he brought up from the ground to break her ribcage and pelvis. “I think Noah will have a lot of fun trying out some new techniques on you,” he hummed.

He looked up when he was finished, snorting as he placed his hands on his hips, looking around at the mangled and broken bodies that surrounded him. Once again no one had even gotten close to the edge of the ring and he smiled to himself, raising up a hand to wave over to the rest of the Family that had been watching and waiting.

“They’re all ready for your experimenting now!” he chirped, his smile as warm and bright as ever.


	11. Important Conclusions

Sergio couldn’t help but cock an eyebrow as he watched the Airbender tearing into a roasted salmon. “I thought your people were supposed to be vegetarians?” he asked. “You were just telling me the other day that you couldn’t eat meat because of your monk heritage.”

“Well, I thought long and hard about it,” Luciano said, picking up a shrimp in delight, removing the tail before eating the flesh, “and I have come to a very important conclusion about myself and my history with the Airbending monks who raised me.”

“And what conclusion is that I wonder?” Sergio mused, smiling to himself as he had a general idea of what the other would say.

Luciano purred as he idly popped a small roasted potato into his mouth, chewing before saying, “I am not a good monk.” He chose another fish to place on his plate, setting aside the bones from the other before starting to eat again. “But…I am a perfectly good self.”

“Oh?”

“Hmm yes, and to be honest? I think that they only exiled me because they were terrified of how powerful I was destined to become. I wasn’t willing to allow myself to be held back by silly traditions and oaths of pacifism. I would have become greater than all of them combined someday and  _that_  is why they exiled me.”

“You told me they exiled you because you had a breakdown at the idea of them shaving your head to finish your tattoos,” Sergio reminded him.

“ _THAT_  was  _ONE_  time…”

“You told me you burst several sets of eardrums and left several younger monks deaf.”

“Eardrums grow back, double dearest.”

“Who told you that?”

“Noah.”

“Noah is a Bloodbender.”

“Which means he obviously knows what he’s talking about,” Luciano chirped, flashing the other a bright smile.


	12. Warnings

“They’re coming.”

Cecil frowned as he lifted his head, narrowing his eyes at the figure that approached. He stood up straight as the vision became clearer, tilting his head to the side as he regarded them in curiosity. “Who are you?” he demanded.

“I’m Kevin,” the other answered, offering him a lopsided smile.

“Why do you look like me?”

“That’s not important.”

“I’m pretty sure that is important.”

“They’re coming to your city,” Kevin repeated.

“Who?”

“The Family. They need another Voice. They’ve used me up. My physical body is falling apart and they need a replacement. They’ve found your city and they’re coming to take it and you.”

“That doesn’t make sense…”

Kevin looked at the other quietly for a moment and then his body started to shift and change. His eyes became dull and his limbs became twisted and lifeless, vines sprouting from the old and dried flesh. He stood there limply, his arms useless at his sides and his head sagging to one side, staring at the other with those lifeless eyes of his, his heavily scarred up and torn mouth opening in a mockery of speech. “They need another Voice…and they’ve found your city…”

Cecil woke with a start, sitting up and nearly knocking Carlos out of bed.


	13. Birdnapper

The body of Desert Bluff’s Voice was no longer of any use to the Family. The body was rotting far too much and Sergio’s roots were breaking through the skin and starting to flower. They had tried to cut open the sides of the corpse’s mouth to try and make it easier to manipulate but this had only made the rot become more obvious and apparent to anyone looking at it. They needed to grab the Voice of Night Vale as soon as possible.

In the end they decided that Noah was the most likely to be able to carry out the mission of taking Night Vale’s Voice and bringing him back to be dealt with. It was after all much easier to just send in one Bloodbender than to send in an army to take over a city, giving the Voice the chance to slip through their fingers and go into hiding.

Noah waited for nightfall to make his move, smiling to himself as he walked up to the home where the Voice lived after watching his lover leave. He slipped into the house easily enough, creeping down the halls in search of the Voice. The sooner he got this done the sooner he would be able to get back home and rest.

He found the Voice asleep in a chair and he raised up a hand to start his work when he noticed something odd sitting in his lap. Lowering his hand, Noah frowned to himself as he stepped closer to get a better look. His eyes widened in surprise when he realized what it was and his cheeks burned a dull red color.

It was a quetzal bird. The large green thing was curled up on Cecil’s lap and fast asleep, letting its long tail trail down to the ground. It looked…beautiful and it was even making soft peeping noises in its sleep.

Noah frowned to himself as he tried to think of what to do now with this new information but he was soon stopped when he heard more soft chirps and peeps coming from behind him. Turning around, he gasped in surprise when he saw a little pile of baby birds waddling over to him, peeping and chirping at the intruder.

He reached for the pouch hanging from his belt and he sighed as he left several coins on the table before getting to work, scooping up an armful of the baby birds being fleeing from the house and heading back to where Ricardo was waiting for him at the outskirts of the city.

Ricardo frowned when he saw what Noah held in his arms, shaking his head. “You were supposed to get the Voice! Not birds!”

“Okay but this one is named Ricardo Jr,” Noah countered, pointing at a baby vulture he had scooped up.

The Firebender frowned but carefully took the vulture chick from him, holding it carefully in his hands. “We’ll figure something else out. Let’s get out of here before anyone sees us!”

* * *

“Cecil?”

The Voice woke up with a soft snort, sitting up as he opened his eyes. “Hm?” he asked.

“Did someone come and buy some of my baby birds while I was away?” Carlos asked, gesturing to the coins with a raised eyebrow.

Cecil thought for a moment, struggling to make his tired mind work properly before finally saying, “yes.”

“Oh okay…why did they pay in Fire Nation money?”

“I don’t know?”

Carlos laughed, shaking his head.


	14. Eagle Guardian

With the failure of Noah’s plan to simply grab the Voice through the art of Bloodbending; Ricardo decided that they would try to perhaps get close to the Voice by befriending his lover Carlos. The Waterbender Sergio and Airbender Luciano were both considered for this mission but in the end it was decided that someone a little less rare would work. The Earthbender Caesar was sent out to try and gain Carlos’ trust.

So it was that Caesar approached Carlos’ stand one day in the marketplace, all smiles and pleasantries as he looked over the mostly flightless birds the breeder had for sale. “Is it hard breeding so many?” he asked.

“Not with enough love and care. They all make wonderful pets,” Carlos said with a smile. He perked up a little when a Golden Eagle wearing an eye patch landed on his shoulder and he smiled, stroking its chest. “This is my only bird who can fly actually! He’s a sweet thing!”

The Golden Eagle turned its head to regard Caesar with its single eye, shifting a little on Carlos’ shoulder. It locked its single eye on Caesar’s green, staring the smiling Earthbender down. The large predator bird pressed itself close against the breeder, hunching over him as if to act as a shield.

“He certainly seems sweet enough,” Caesar agreed, moving a little closer to Carlos. He reached out as if to touch Carlos’ hand but was forced back when the Eagle suddenly spread its wings out wide, letting out a hiss. “Ah?”

“Hey! What are you doing?!” Carlos gasped, frowning as the bird covered his face with its wings. “I’m sorry! He usually only does this when he thinks I’m in danger! It’s okay! He’s just talking to me!”

“Yes…just talking…” Caesar agreed, glaring at the bird now. He moved a little closer and hissed when the Eagle suddenly made a lunge at him, sharp beak snapping at the air. “Perhaps I should come back another time…”

“I’m really sorry!”

* * *

“He has an ATTACK Eagle?!” Ricardo squawked.

“I couldn’t just kill the thing!” Caesar continued, “I don’t think that bird is going to let any of us get close to him.”

“But how did it know?” Ricardo grumbled. The baby vulture on his shoulder peeped and he fed it a sliver of flesh, pursing his lips in thought. “We need to try something else before we just invade the city with force.”


	15. Teen Problems

“I don’t understand why we don’t just go into Night Vale and just  _take_  what we want like we did with Desert Bluffs!”

Ricardo rolled his eyes, rubbing his temples with two fingers as a blue ball of fire flew inches away from his face, knocking the piece of comet he wore on his head askew. With a snort he reached up and adjusted the piece of space debris accordingly, pursing his lips as he watched Diego envelope his hands in blue fire, slamming his fists into a marble target. “I thought you preferred long range fighting,” he said.

“And I thought we were supposed to be taking everything under the Fire Lord’s nose,” Diego countered, turning to face the other as his flames went out.

“These things take time…”

“You’re just afraid of what will happen once you get your hands on the only other Voice left,” Diego sniffed.

“…You’re still upset about Kevin.”

Diego tensed a little, standing up a little straighter as he stared into his father’s eyes. A moment later he whirled around, smashing the head off of the target with a blast of flame. “You didn’t need to make him into a puppet…” the sixteen-year-old muttered.

“It had to happen. He wasn’t going to listen otherwise.”

“And now you need a new puppet because his body is too mangled.”

Ricardo sighed, shaking his head at him. “This is why I keep you and your sister here away from all of the fighting and planning,” he said, “I don’t think children should be involved in this.”

“We’re sixteen!”

“Children.”

“The Fire Nation recruits soldiers once they’re sixteen,” Diego countered.

“The Fire Nation also thinks leaving people to starve the death is the way to victory.”

“Why do you care about other Benders so much?”

“There’s a reason why the world was created with four different kinds of Bending. Killing off the ones you don’t like is bound to have…consequences.”

Diego snorted at Ricardo’s cryptic words, shaking his head as he crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re always talking in riddles and it’s really annoying,” he said.

Ricardo offered him a smile, ruffling the glaring teen’s hair. “That’s what father’s do best! Now where is your sister?”

“I think she’s using some of the servants as target practice outside.”

“…Dammit.”


	16. Two Names; One Person

“Her name was Vanessa.”

Cecil wasn’t as surprised as before when his dreams melted away and took him to the shrouded valley again. He looked up and watched as the man who was him but also not him approached again. Both of his arms were rotted away from the elbows down, flowering vines trailing down from the open wounds. The cut across his mouth looked as if it was getting wider and there were more plants bursting out of his flesh, sticking up from the top of his head and on his shoulders.

“Before she came to Night Vale,” Kevin explained further.

“Who?” Cecil asked.

“Dana.”

Cecil frowned a little at that, shaking his head. “Dana as in my intern?”

“Yes.”

“Why would she change her name just to move here?”

“She’s hiding from the Family.”

Cecil snorted, “you keep talking about this ‘Family’ and I’ve never even heard of them!”

“You’ve been seen by two of them already. One of them entered your house. You were only saved because of his affection for birds.”

“So  _that’s_ what happened to them…”

“The other approached Carlos and was stopped by your Eagle.”

“Well they don’t seem very scary if birds are able to fend them off,” Cecil sniffed, shrugging his shoulders at the vision. “So why should I be getting worried about people who apparently can be defeated by birds?”

“They’re going to get more serious in their attempts. If they cannot grab you quietly they will attack the city itself. They did that to my city. That’s how they took me. That’s why my wife ran and changed her name. She’s here because she’s keeping her eyes on you. She’s trying to protect you from them as best as she can.”

“Dana was your wife?”

“When she went by Vanessa, yes.”

“…Oh wow I’ve never seen her wearing a ring!”

“Cecil.”

“Hm?”

“Focus.”

Cecil pouted but said nothing else, watching as the vision started to fade away as he woke up.

“You were talking in your sleep again,” Carlos mumbled as he felt the Voice shifting behind him.

“Did I say anything good?”

“You kept mentioning Dana and someone named Vanessa.”

“Ah…weird.”


	17. Let It Start

"We cannot afford to keep this siege going for too long. We need these people to love us,” Ricardo muttered, frowning as he looked over a map of the city called Desert Bluffs. “Long sieges just means longer periods of resentment once broken!”

"It’s their Voice," Sergio reminded him.

"But we need the Voice on our side," Caesar added with a thoughtful frown. "Otherwise there’s no point in this siege at all."

Noah snorted, shaking his head as he said, “Kevin refuses to talk with us. He just uses his Earthbending to attack us!”

"We should kill him," Luciano chirped.

"We need him," Sergio sighed. "Perhaps another talk? Maybe…"

Ricardo’s eyes flashed with inspiration. The Firebender smiled, standing up suddenly. “Sergio, I need you to stay on the frontlines with the soldiers. Keep them in line. No ground assaults but continue randomized aerial attacks over the walls. Caesar, Luciano, and Noah! You three follow me!”

Sergio watched as Ricardo left the tent in a hurry, followed closely by the other three. He frowned to himself but said nothing, cleaning up the table before leaving to do as he was told.

* * *

"Please don’t go out there. There’s something wrong. I can feel it, Kevin!"

The Earthbender turned to look at his wife, shaking his head. “I can beat him. The message from Caesar promised to be a single bout between Earthbenders and no one else. When I win the Family will retreat and leave Desert Bluffs alone.”

"This is a trap," Vanessa countered. Her shoulders fell when Kevin kissed her forehead. "Kevin…"

"I’ll be back; I promise you."

* * *

The Voice of Desert Bluffs slipped through some gates in the far back of the city. He moved as quickly as he could, his heart racing as he thought about what he was doing. All he had to do was best Caesar…he was certain he could do it!

He let out a sigh of relief when he saw the other Earthbender waiting for him near some trees by himself. At least this member of the Family kept his word! “Caesar..!”

"Right on time," Caesar noted. His green eyes seemed to glow in the moonlight, pupils looking almost slitted. He shifted into a standard Earthbending position, smiling at Kevin. "Show me what you can do!"

Kevin mimicked the man’s stance. His heart raced as he tensed up, waiting for Caesar to make the first move. He watched however as Caesar instead dropped his posture, laughing as he placed his hands on his hips.

And that was when Kevin realized he couldn’t move.

"Wha..?!"

“I was just as surprised as you when I first realized Caesar’s older brother was a Bloodbender.” Ricardo made himself known as he stepped out from behind Kevin, smiling as Noah walked beside him, one hand raised as the fingers twisted and bent awkwardly, helping him to maintain control over Kevin. “I thought he was just another Waterbender to be honest! It was such a wonderful surprise when he confessed his secret to me.”

“It wasn’t much of a secret,” Caesar snorted with a roll of his eyes, “Noah had to tell the truth after you caught him using Bloodbending to deal with a soldier who insulted him.”

“Shut up! Ricardo made me sound mysterious and fancy!” Noah indignantly cried out.

“What’s mysterious is why you insist on using such a junky cane,” Caesar countered.

“You..!”

“Don’t let him slip away,” Ricardo warned, frowning when he saw Kevin’s body start to tense up, straining to break away from Noah’s hold. The Firebender nodded in approval when Noah quickly reestablished control over the Voice’s body, forcing Kevin to place his arms down at his sides before locking them into place. There was a clicking of teeth as Noah forced Kevin’s jaw to clench shut and he smiled to himself, clearly proud of his control over the other.

“So…we had to figure out a way to kill you but leave you still useful to us,” Ricardo purred, golden eyes locking onto Kevin’s own pink eyes. “If I killed you that would be no good because of the hideous burns you would sustain during the attack. If Caesar killed you that would be useless because your body would be smashed to pieces. Noah can’t kill you because popped blood vessels leave marks. Sadly Sergio can’t do it either since drowning causes the face to bloat and strangling with plant vines causes wounds.”

Ricardo smiled brightly, flashing white teeth at Kevin as his golden eyes seemed to brighten up. “So then the question became…who was left to kill you without leaving a mark? Luckily Sergio actually provided the answer a few years ago! How lucky for me, eh?”

A delighted giggle from behind made Kevin’s eyes widen in horror and he could only let out a weak whimper before he felt the air inside of his body being pulled out through his nostrils. The Firebender Ricardo maintained eye contact with him throughout the entire process, still smiling as Kevin started to die. The last thing Kevin thought about before his heart stopped was Vanessa, terrified for his wife’s well-being as he died still standing.

“That wasn’t nearly as fun as it usually is,” Luciano said with a huff, pouting at Ricardo over Kevin’s shoulder. “You could have let Noah release him while I killed him! I like watching the way the human body twists and contorts itself in the fruitless struggle for air.”

“The body needs to remain perfect,” Ricardo reminded him.

Luciano rolled his eyes under his mask, clicking his teeth as he looked over the dead body Noah was still controlling. “Well now we’ve got him. What happens next, fearless leader?”

“We bring him back to the camp and  _you_  practice your vocal imitations. We need everyone to think he’s speaking.”

“How soon do you need it done?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

The Airbender sighed but said nothing, nodding his head with a sniff. He glanced back at the dead body one last time, using one gloved hand to open Kevin’s eyes before walking away to go and practice.

“Can you make the mouth move as if he’s really speaking?” Ricardo asked.

“Let me see…” Noah curled his fingers and he laughed when he was able to make Kevin’s mouth open and close in a mockery of life and speech. “How’s that?”

“As long as we keep him a good distance away no one should notice how weird it looks,” Caesar sighed.

“It doesn’t look weird!”

“It does.”

“No, it doesn’t!”

“Enough,” Ricardo sighed, holding up a hand to cut the siblings short. “Walk him back to the camp. We have plans to finish up and make ready for the morning.” The Firebender watched in amusement as the Bloodbender started to practice making the corpse walk, trying to make it look a little less stiff as he and Caesar walked with it back to their main camp.

“And so it starts,” he whispered to himself.


	18. Good Girl, Berry

_**Sergio** _

This was Sergio’s chance to deal with the Voice. He brought several plants with him that had soft leaves, hoping to be able to strangle the Voice without risking causing too much obvious damage to the body. Strangulation marks were easy to cover up…he just needed to be careful about it.

Caesar gave Sergio permission to ride on Berry to get into the city. The large animal was the easiest form of transportation after all and it seemed that the people of Night Vale didn’t care about the large hybrid in the first place. It would be easier to hide the dead Voice’s body once things were finished on the way back.

The Plantbender moves closer, smiling to himself as he catches sight of his target. Cecil is by himself today, there is no Golden Eagle around to lash out at anyone get close to him. Sergio moves his hands in the proper formations and the vines start to twitch and move, ready to snap out and grab and choke and…

Berry sits on him without a sound.

Sergio hisses as the air is forced out of his body, wheezing as he loses control of his vines. “Berry…Berry, this is the wrong time! Uncle is in the middle of something important right now! Please!” he whispers, struggling to control himself. He watches with wide eyes as Cecil starts to walk away, clawing at the ground in a useless attempt to crawl out from under her. “Berry!”

He gives up once Cecil walks out of range and out of eyesight. With a snort he goes limp, resting his chin in the palm of one hand as he waits for Berry to stand back up. The beardog wags her tail and happily starts to lick Sergio’s face.

“Yes, yes uncle loves you too,” he mutters.

* * *

_**Luciano** _

The Airbender giggles dangerously a moment after the wine lands on his arm, leaping onto his feet. The red liquid soaks into the fabric, staining it instantly with the now dull color. “…This is my favorite robe,” Luciano whispers, his voice struggling to sound upbeat as he looks at the wide-eyed servant. “Do you know…haha! How…hard it is to clean these without destroying the dyes used in creating it?!”

“It…it was an accident…I…”

“Accidents happen but you need to learn a lesson from them so…” The Airbender’s words are cut off by a yelp when Berry suddenly picks him up by the back of his robes with her mouth, lifting him in the air as if he were a puppy. “Ah! Excuse me! Set me down!”

The servant turns and flees from the room and Luciano watches helplessly, frowning as Berry carries him out of the room and drops him onto the floor outside, resting one of her front paws firmly on top of his head.

* * *

_**Caesar and Noah** _

“Make sure you stop everyone coming up or down this road. Grab anyone you think is useful. We can always use more soldiers even if they’re just going to be canon fodder. Keep an eye out for the Voice or his boyfriend Carlos. Either one is useful to us right now.”

Noah sighs a little as his little brother gives orders to the small squad they’ve taken to watch over the roads leading in and out of Night Vale. The pair are both sitting on Berry’s back and Noah pouts a little, watching the hybrid warily. “Have you figured out why she’s acting so strangely?”

“Berry’s not acting strangely,” Caesar counters, looking at Noah over his shoulder. “She’s just been more playful than usual!”

“So that’s what you call it…”

“She’s fine.”

“As you say.”

Caesar pouts but says nothing else, perking up when he catches sight of a wagon coming down the road. “Come on, let’s see if there’s anything useful we can take!”

Noah grits his teeth, tightening his grip on Berry’s fur when she starts to move. “Don’t let her drop me!”

“It’s fine!”

But Berry is not going in the direction Caesar points her in. Instead she makes a sharp turn to the left and the brothers are left confused, trying and failing to make her turn and go into the direction they want her to go in. She is instead headed straight for a large mud puddle, tongue lolling out of her open mouth.

“Berry! Berry, no!” Caesar shouts. Noah is screaming inarticulately, flailing his arms as Berry leaps into the air, landing straight into the mud before rolling over, covering herself and dumping both riders into the thick substance.

Noah comes up with a scream, furiously trying to clean the mud off of his face. “ BERRY! WHY?!”

Caesar coughs as he surfaces, muttering darkly as he uses his Earthbending to clean himself off. “…Okay maybe she’s been a little  _too_  friendly lately,” he mutters, cleaning Noah off next with a sweep of his arm.

“You think?!”


	19. Night Terrors

Sergio is jerked out of bed by Luciano’s shrieks. The Plantbender wakes up with a jerk, fumbling out of bed and his bedroom. Caesar and Noah are running past and he follows after them. “It’s coming from Luciano’s room!” he shouts to them.

Caesar uses his bending to pick up a heavy marble figurine on the way, hurling it at the Airbender’s door. Luciano tends to lock it before going to bed, making these events a little difficult. The door however gives way after a few slams and Caesar pushes it open, holding it for Noah and Sergio.

Noah is at Luciano’s side first. “Hey…you okay?” he asks, wincing as the Airbender sits up. His face is pale, the dark rings under his eyes looking almost black. His hands shake and he blinks when Noah takes one of them, rubbing the back of his hand with a thumb.

"Why whatever is the matter?" Luciano asks. He offers the three a shaky laugh, reaching up to fix his braid with his free hand. "I must look an awful sight!"

"Are you feeling alright?" Caesar asks. "You were screaming…"

Sergio keeps his distance, watching as Caesar and Noah talk to Luciano, gauging the Airbender’s emotional state. He sighs and turns his head, glancing over at Ricardo standing in the shadows nearby. “He’s been having these ever since going to those sacked Air Temples.”

"His mind is too broken to let him cope properly," Ricardo whispers. "I doubt he’ll ever be fully healed."

Sergio frowns, looking back over at Luciano. He’s chastising Noah about his hair and reminding Caesar to try and get some form of sleep. “What do we do?”

"Keep watch. Make sure someone is around to curb his…mood swings."

The Plantbender nods, finally walking over to sit on the bed, joining in on trying to convince Caesar to get more sleep.


	20. Glassed

Diego clenched his hands into furious fists, struggling to control his trembling as he stood over the smoldering corpse. The corpse had once been a Fire Nation assassin and the teenager was certain that they were not the only one sent after him. Normally the Fire Lord and Ricardo played their games outside of home but this…Ricardo must have done something to really anger the Fire Lord if he tried to kill Ricardo’s twins.

He suddenly perked up when he heard Divina’s furious shrieking and he took off as fast as his golden heels would carry him. “Divina? Divina! Hey!”

“GET AWAY FROM ME!”

“Sister! I’m coming!” Diego skidded as he turned the corner, hissing as his heels scrapped along the tile, the tips sparking and igniting into small streaking flames on the ground. “Shit!” He looked up sharply when he heard lightning crackling up ahead and he tried to calm his racing heart before pushing himself to keep going, heading for his twin’s bedroom.

He found his sister standing in the doorway, breathing heavily as she stared at a pile of ashes smashed up against the wall opposite her door. She huffed when she saw him coming, standing up straight and fixing her hair moodily as she said, “they broke my door.”

“They also broke the rules,” Diego snorted back.

“So what happens now?”

“We need to tell Ricardo.”

Divina smiled brightly at that, giggling a little as she said, “he’s going to be  _furious_.”

* * *

Luciano giggled nervously, toying with his braid as he looked over at Sergio. “He’s really going to do it, isn’t he?” the Airbender asked. “I’ve heard stories about what he can do when he’s really angry but I’ve never seen it myself.”

"Nor have I," Sergio confessed.

Luciano perked up at that, eyebrows raised underneath his mask. “You too?”

"I’ve heard older soldiers speak of what he does," Sergio said. He frowned a little, shuddering as the aforementioned Firebender walked past them. Ricardo’s face was unreadable, hands in fists at his sides. He walked up to the edge of the Fire Nation controlled village and stopped.

Blue flames burst around his body, engulfing him in the intense heat and flickering light. Slowly he raised his arms up, slamming them back down at his sides, forcing the flames to take shape around him. They formed a pair of wings and soon Ricardo was lifted up into the air, the heat forcing his own army and Family to step back to avoid any damage.

"My children are off-limits!" he roared before he began, refusing to let any living thing escape from his wrath and intense flames.

When everything was finished, there was nothing but a massive expanse of smooth glass where a village had once stood. Ricardo allowed himself to sink back down to the ground, landing easily on his feet. He coughed once, smoothing over his clothes before adjusting his circlet with a piece of a comet in its center. “Do you think the Fire Lord will understand this message’s meaning?” he asked.

"I daresay you’ve made yourself crystal clear," Luciano mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Good. Let’s keep moving."


	21. I Wonder

Sergio’s garden up on the roof of Ricardo’s fortress was open to all members of the Family for training and relaxation. The dangerous plants for the most part were aware that the Family were off-limits and those who pushed their luck were always dealt with to serve as an example to the others. At the moment Caesar was using the garden for some light training, practicing with stone disks and weights.

Luciano was using the garden to enjoy the view Caesar provided. The Airbender leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table top, chin neatly placed in the palms of his hands. He hummed softly to himself, idly fixing his mask’s placement over his face. He eyed a plate of thin cookies in front of him and reached out, choosing one with a gloved hand. “How come you don’t know as many fighting techniques as the other Earthbenders in our army?” he asked.

“Because I never planned on fighting,” Caesar reminded him, hurling a disk into the air. He waited a moment before reaching out a hand, directing the disk’s path and making it move in a wide circle above his head. He then slammed his hand down, bringing the disk smashing down into the ground. “I was training to be a healer and only used my bending to do my job as a mailman.”

“I cannot believe you wasted your skill being a mailman.”

“And I cannot believe that everyone expects Earthbenders to do nothing else but fight all the time,” Caesar countered with a sniff. He raised up several weights, working on having them move around each other in tight intricate patterns in the air, focusing on getting them as close as possible without touching.

“I don’t,” Luciano assured him, “I just think that someone with your skill and appearance could be something much more important than a mailman  _or_  a warrior.”

Caesar raised an eyebrow at that, looking over at the smiling Airbender. “Like what I wonder?”

Luciano flashed his teeth as he smiled at the other, sitting up straight in his chair and placing his hands in his lap. “I wonder indeed…” he hummed.

He let the weights fall into a pile at his feet, smiling knowingly as he walked over to Luciano. He placed the palms of his hands on the tabletop, leaning forward until his face was inches from Luciano’s own masked one. “Perhaps we should continue this line of… _wondering_ in my room later?”

“I do so enjoy brainstorming ideas with others,” Luciano agreed, allowing Caesar to lift up his mask just enough to kiss him properly on the lips before pulling it back down, heading back to his training.


	22. Distractions

Meetings were always so  _boring_. There was far too much talking and lying in front of people’s faces, making promises that will never be kept. One had to sit and wonder what was the point of these anyway? Perhaps Ricardo simply liked to hear the sound of his own voice and to practice his ability to lie through his teeth while smiling in people’s faces.

Luciano pouted to himself under his mask, leaning back in his chair as Ricardo continued going off about “alliances” and “no, we won’t assimilate your town if you lay down your arms”. The Airbender knew for a fact that right at that moment the Santiago brothers were leading a small troop into said town while its leaders were here, subduing the citizens while their leaders thought they were doing some good. It was enough to make the Airbender laugh in their faces but Ricardo had scolded him for doing that the last time and so he was forced to try and restrain himself.

Quietly Luciano rested his elbow on the arm of his chair, guiding a thin stream of air to flow between his fingers in a circular motion. He moved his fingers around lazily, eyes unfocused as he stared at nothing. Quietly he added a smooth glass bead into the mix, lifting it into the air with his free hand before letting it fall into the small air stream, toying with both the air and the bead now.

A soft trill and sudden movement inside of Luciano’s robes made him shift in his chair, smiling brightly as a small head popped out near his chest. A winged lemur runt looked up at the bead moving between Luciano’s fingers, its ears pricked up. It trilled softly, crawling out a little further as it reached out with its good hand to try and catch the bead.

“And I assure you that…” Ricardo was cut off by Luciano’s loud giggle and he sighed, looking over at the Airbender. He watched as Luciano played happily with his winged lemur and he chuckled, shaking his head before resuming his lies.

“Little Lulu…” Luciano hummed, helping his lemur crawl out from under his robes, making sure the creature didn’t press down on their twisted arm as it settled down onto his shoulder, chittering and trilling softly into his ear.


	23. Little Lulu

_Airbender Yaso sighed when he noticed which of his students were missing. “Where is Luciano?” he asked. He waited before placing his hands on his hips, cocking an eyebrow. “Well?” he urged._

_He was met with silence and he gave up, heading out himself to find the missing student. He knew exactly where Luciano was and he headed out into the courtyard, arms folded into his sleeves. “Luciano! I am sure the lemurs enjoy your music but your lessons come first, boy!”_

_The young Airbender was sitting up on a dais, happily playing music on the small piano he kept on his hip. He was covered in lemurs, allowing the creatures to play in his hair and robes. The animals were drawn to his music, trilling along while gliding around him._

_He stopped playing, flashing his teacher a smile. “Coming!”_

* * *

"…coming…" Luciano whispered, standing up on the same dais years later. The temple had become a tomb, stones covered in blood and ashes. Everything was dead…and the lemurs he had been so fond of were gone.

The Fire Nation had been through here.

Luciano hoped that the lemurs had at least escaped the slaughter.

He flipped open the top to his piano and he started to play, trying to forget how much the elders were to blame. He had warned them about the other Benders. He had urged them to use their Bending to take control and show that they weren’t weak! He showed them when he killed those Earthbenders near the temple..!

A weak chittering sound ripped Luciano out of the past. He gasped and leapt down from the dais, looking for the source. “Hello?!” He frowned when he was met with silence and he started to play his piano again, hoping to coax a response.

The chittering answered him again. The Airbender was off like a shot, following it to its source. Lying among some rubble that had once been a stone garden was a painfully small winged lemur. One of her arms was trapped under some stone, keeping her pinned down.

"Oh…Caesar! Caesar!" Luciano screamed. The Earthbender had come with him to the ruins to help salvage anything useful. "CAESAR!"

Caesar came as fast as he could on Berry’s back. “Luciano?! What’s..? Oh!” Immediately he sprang into action when he saw the lemur, his heart breaking at the sight. “Poor baby!”

"Please help her!" The stones were lifted slowly to avoid harming the animal further and Luciano tenderly picked her up, cradling her. "Poor Lulu…"

"Lulu?"

"Please don’t let her die, Caesar! Please?" the masked man begged.

Caesar smiled sadly, crouching down to get a look at her arm. “I can try but I doubt she’ll ever fly again,” he warned, “her arm will heal crooked.”

"As long as she lives."

"Okay," Caesar said with a nod. He worked on trying to set bone and bandage torn cartilage, listening as Luciano whispered to Lulu. He smiled when Berry lowered her head, licking Lulu’s ears to help calm her. "She’s already made a friend."

"She’s got a whole Family now…"

"She does," Caesar agreed. He looked at Luciano seriously then, reaching out to lift up his mask. "And so do you," he whispered.

Luciano smiled sadly, kissing Caesar on the nose.


	24. Missing Lemur

Lulu was woken up from her sleep by a light scratching at the door. The winged lemur woke up, ears pricked up as she looked over the side of the hammock she slept in above Luciano’s bed. There was another light scratch and she smiled, happily climbing out of her hammock and making her way down onto the floor.

It was slow going for the runt but she managed it despite one of her arms being twisted around, leaving the hand and torn up wing useless for any kind of use. She chittered softly to herself as she climbed up onto a dresser to reach the doorknob, turning it to allow the animal on the other side to push it open with her nose.

Berry the beardog wagged her tail happily when she saw Lulu waiting for her and she took a few steps inside, angling herself so that her head was at the perfect height for the lemur to climb on without too much trouble. She panted softly when the lemur took a position onto her back, nuzzling into her warm fur. She took a moment to peek at the sleeping Airbender in his bed before silently padding away, shutting the door behind her with her tail.

* * *

A few hours later everyone heard Luciano’s high pitched shrieking tearing through the halls. The Airbender came tearing out of his bedroom, his hair wild on his head from being left without a brush going through it. He had not even put his mask on, allowing everyone to see his wide eyes and the dark circles under them. “Where is she?!” he screamed, punctuating his scream with a blast of air at the nearest confused looking non-Bender.

Luciano raged and lashed out at anything and everything around him in his mad search for Lulu. The only thing that managed to stop him was Noah sneaking up from behind and using his bloodbending to force him to put his arms down, refusing to let them go. “Luciano! What are you doing?!”

“Lulu’s missing and I can’t find her!” he sobbed.

Noah sighed and released him, tapping the bottom of his cane on the floor softly to force Luciano to look at him. “Go and clean yourself up and I’ll show you where she is.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

* * *

Noah was waiting outside of his room when Luciano came back out, looking more pulled together as he toyed with the end of his braid with a gloved hand. The Airbender avoided meeting the Bloodbender’s gaze, pointedly looking down at the ground. “Well?” he asked.

“Come on,” Noah urged. He led the way up to Sergio’s garden on the roof, pouting to himself as his knee started to ache a little as they went up the stairs.

“I don’t understand where she could have gone. Why would someone steal her?”

“Nobody stole her.”

“But…how..?” Luciano perked up in surprise when Noah moved aside to let him look out into Sergio’s garden. “…oh…”

Berry was sleeping under one of the large fruit trees Sergio had planted, her head resting on top of her paws. The winged lemur Lulu was sitting happily on the beardog’s back, munching on a large piece of fruit the beardog had pulled down for her.

“Sometimes they bring my birds out here too,” Noah explained with a shrug. “See? No one stole her.”

Luciano sniffed, straightening up a little as he adjusted his mask. “I knew that,” he finally said.

“…Right.”


	25. Art

“Caesar? Luciano? Ricardo wishes for every member of the Family to come down to the war room and…” Sergio stopped short when he found the pair out on one of the balconies, shaking his head as he placed his hands on his hips. “Seriously?” he asked.

The pair were sitting out on the balcony, sharing a bar of tobacco between each other. They each had their own intricately designed and carved pipes to use. Luciano’s was made of copper and silver that had been woven together to form a spiraling pattern down to the mouthpiece. Caesar’s pipe was made out of a strong wood, images of different animals carved into the sides.

Luciano giggled as he pulled his pipe’s mouthpiece his lips, letting the smoke flow from his nostrils. “Yes, Sergio?” he asked.

“…I thought Airbenders refrained from smoking and drinking alcohol?”

The Airbender shrugged his shoulders, “well considering they’re all dead I suppose I can make whatever rules I want now! Is that not so, Caesar?”

Caesar leaned back against the rail of the balcony, nodding his head in agreement. “I would have to agree.”

Sergio rolled his eyes at the pair of them, “I see…”

“Oh! Look what Caesar can do!” Luciano gasped, pointing excitedly at the Earthbender. “Caesar, show him!”

Calmly Caesar took a deep pull on his pipe. He held the smoke in his mouth briefly and then opened his mouth wide, breathing out. One large ring slid out first, followed by several smaller rings that flowed through the first. At the last moment he blew out a single straight line, making it pass through the center of all of the rings before they vanished.

“Amazing…now as I was saying…”

“Watch me!” Luciano chirped. He took a shorter drag on his own pipe, smiling to himself as he adjusted his mask. He opened his mouth and let out a perfect ball of smoke. He then reached out, using his Airbending to adjust the smoke’s shape into an image of a lemur, giggling as it started to fade away. “See? It’s smoke art!”

“…Are you two coming?”

“Of course!”

“We’ll be right there.”


	26. Support System

Noah frowned a little to himself,tilting his head to the side as he narrowed his eyes. After a few moments he laughed, shaking his head before turning around, walking over to where his little brother sat reading. “Caesar?”

The Earthbender looked up with both eyebrows raised, “hm?”

“You ever see Luciano use his bending for anything other than to hurt somebody?”

Caesar looked skyward for a moment, pursing his lips together. “Well sometimes when he doesn’t want to get up and pick up the wine bottle he uses his bending to blow it over to him? And then there was the time he blew that one ambassador’s chair a few inches back when they were about to sit so that they fell. And then there was the time…”

“No, I mean like…using his bending not to hurt someone else OR to benefit himself in some way,” Noah corrected with a shake of his head.

Caesar thought this over, frowning as he finally shook his head. He pushed himself onto his feet, walking over to stand beside his brother. “No, I can’t say that I’ve ever seen him do that,” he confessed, “why?” Noah smirked and pointed with his cane at the scene playing out in the distance. Caesar followed where he pointed and he laughed, shaking his head. “Oh wow!”

The winged lemur Lulu trilled loudly as she performed a little loop in the air. Her one usable arm was held out, helping her to keep some semblance of balance in the air. A few times she would start to list to one side, unable to control herself with only one wing but the air around her would adjust and she would start to chatter in delight as she continued to “fly” once again.

“That’s my pretty girl!” Luciano giggled, moving his hands in a slow circular pattern. The Airbender liked to let his pet simulate the sensation of being able to fly, using his bending to form a kind of cushion around her to help. “That’s my good girl, Lulu!”

“That’s sweet,” Caesar cooed.

“He really loves that weird little thing, doesn’t he?” Noah asked.

“She’s keeping him from having a total mental breakdown,” Sergio suddenly explained, walking up to the brothers from behind. The bender glanced over at the scene of Luciano playing with Lulu, sighing softly as he shook his head. “Imagine what he would be like without her…or the Family for that matter.”

“Didn’t he use to kill people where you came from?”

“He killed  _a lot_  of people where I came from,” Sergio corrected.

“Oh wow.”

“Yeah.”

Lulu squealed in delight when the cushion suddenly vanished, bracing herself to fall into Luciano’s waiting arms. She giggled and hugged onto him with her one arm, nuzzling against him as she closed her eyes in satisfaction. The Airbender held her close, stroking her head fondly with a gloved hand, helping her to slip into the front of his robes for warmth, hiding until nothing but her head was visible.


	27. Accents

"Luciano, kin I ask you a question?"

The Airbender smiled, humming to himself as he fixed the bun he had placed his hair in, making it look as close to Sergio’s as possible. He had a few minutes before he was due on the stage. “Ask away!”

"Why do people act confused when I speak to them?" Sergio asked, already knowing the answer.

"I assure you I have no idea!"

"You change the accent every show."

"Do I?" Luciano asked, feigning surprise.

"Ya do! Ya either exaggerate it or change it an’..!"

"You’re getting upset."

"M’not."

"The craw daddies always slip into your mouth when you are," Luciano explained.

Sergio pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. “Luciano…”

"Don’t ya worry! I’ll make sure I do a good imitation o’ yer talkin’ this time, yeah?" Luciano giggled.

Sergio growled, giving up.


	28. Fiery Birthdays

He needed to clear his head. Things were starting to get stressful at the fortress, especially with the continued failures at getting their hands on the Voice known as Cecil Palmer. He was starting to catch wind of whispering among the army, soldiers wondering why they were not simply commanded to take Night Vale by force and grab the Voice like they had done with Desert Bluffs.

Some soldiers were talking about defecting back to the Fire Nation.

He focused on the piece of space rock that served as the centerpiece to his circlet, closing his eyes. The Firebender stood up on the roof of his fortress, slipping away from the rest of the Family. He opened his eyes, fire bursting around his body. He swept his arms out, the fire taking the form of wings around them and with a run and a leap, Ricardo was in the air.

Ricardo had always been fascinated by the fact that Firebenders could propel themselves into the air to simulate flight. He always wondered however why those he had managed to master the ability simply shot out streams of steady fire, refusing to attempt to manipulate the shape and function of the flames themselves. Firebender did not always need to focus on submission and destruction, they could be altered and shaped for art as well as functionality.

The Firebender flew for hours, clearing his head as he soared over clearings and forests. He was mindful of his flames, altering their shape and intensity based on where he was located to avoid any errant sparks causing a fire somewhere. It was not until the sun started to set that the Firebender finally headed back home, his body feeling tired but satisfied as he landed in the courtyard, flames dying away into nothingness.

The Waterbender Sergio was standing in the doorway that led back inside, arms crossed over his chest. “You were gone the whole day,” he noted, walking over to him. “Did you have a lot to think about?”

“I always do,” Ricardo confessed with a roll of his shoulders.

Sergio hummed softly, lips pursed together before he nodded his head. “Come on then. We waited for you before starting dinner but I doubt it will last long. Luciano has been trying to subtly alter the way the water in the hotpot is flowing so he can get the best pieces but Noah noticed and they've been arguing the whole time.”

Ricardo laughed, walking beside the other. “Of course he did...” He followed Sergio into the dining room where the large hotpot would be waiting. He frowned when he noticed a distinct lack of shouting and arguing and he looked over at Sergio as the doors were pushed open. “What..?”

“Surprise!”

Luciano used his bending to blow confetti up into the air, giggling happily as he clapped his hands together. Noah was sitting by the hotpot, using a finger to stir the mixture inside, making sure that it cooked evenly enough. Caesar used his own to bring up a stone chair for Ricardo to sit in, nudging it behind the other to force him to fall into it before bringing him forward.

“What..?” Ricardo blinked in surprise when the twins popped up in front of him, smiling as they greeted him with waves and chaste kisses, (although Diego did try to look aloof about it, turning away when he was finished and muttering darkly to himself).

“It's your birthday,” Sergio explained.

“How did you find out?” Ricardo asked.

Stella raised up a guilty hand as she said, “I told them. I didn't realize that you never told anyone about it.”

“There are more important things to worry about...”

“We could all use a night of fun,” Caesar countered.

“Especially considering that Voice is a pain in the ass and our puppet is starting to show bone,” Noah muttered.

“Let's not focus on that right now!” Luciano chirped. His lemur Lulu poked her big ears out from the sleeve of his robe, chittering excitedly before wiggling out and leaping over to sit in Ricardo's lap, flopping over from the weight of her overly large ears. “Let's focus on eating!”

Ricardo laughed, nodding his head in agreement. He supposed that he could stand to try and forget about his troubles for a night at least, for the Family.


	29. Two Times He's Alone And One Where He Only Thinks He Is

They brand him Outcast. He is called Murderer and Outcast, unfit to stay at the monastery with everyone else. His white gloves are taken from him and he is forced to wear gloves made from a red fabric, showing everyone the blood that is on his hands They ban him from speaking to anyone else and he is only allowed to take the barest of essentials from his room before he’s dragged out of the monastery and past the threshold.

Luciano whirls around and makes as if he were going to try and get back inside. His eyes are wide in fear; he’s never been outside of the monastery before. His hands shake and his voice quivers as he tries to reason with them. Tears burn in his eyes as he screams about the threat the other Nations possess, rolling down his cheeks as he tells them that they need to take on a more aggressive stance. If they continue this path they’re going to die and no one will remember them.

Please…please just…

The heavy stone doors are shut in Luciano’s face and for several hours more he shrieks and pleads with the door to let him back inside. He only wanted them to be safe. Why wouldn’t they listen to him?!

Please…

He doesn’t want to be alone.

* * *

Luciano realizes something is wrong when he spots Firebenders going through the swamp where he hides himself. He keeps himself hidden, contorting the air and sound so he can hear what they’re talking about to understand their motives. He follows as quietly as he can, adjusting his mask just so as he hums to himself.

His eyes grow wide as two soldiers start to argue about turning back. There’s obviously nothing here and they already dealt with that house near this place with that Waterbender and… His chest tightens in terror and he smothers them with a clenched fist before taking off as fast as he can, headed for the home where his only friend lives with his family.

His friend the Waterbender.

Luciano finds himself staring at ashes where Sergio had lived. He drops to his knees and digs through the charred rubble with his  _hands_  and all he can find are two charred bodies of Sergio’s parents, recognizing them by the jewelry melted onto their blackened flesh.

His chest tightens and Luciano lets out a hoarse shriek, tearing at his hair with ash covered hands.

He doesn’t want to be alone.

* * *

He wakes up in the middle of the night to the smell of burning wood and the sound of scolding elders. Luciano stumbles out of his bedroom without his mask, unaware of a confused Lulu looking at him from over the edge of her hammock. The Airbender staggers down the halls, bumping into statues and small tables on the way, unable to focus on anything in his delirious state.

“I…where…where is everyone?! Sergio? Caesar? I…where..?!”

Blindly Luciano opens a random door and he shrieks when he finds that it’s empty, ignoring the fact that it’s a closet and understandably doesn’t have anyone sleeping in it.

“I DON’T WANT TO BE ALONE ANYMORE! WHERE ARE YOU?! I..!” He flinches and whirls around when a hand comes down on his shoulder, gloveless hand raised in a slap.

“Luciano, what’s wrong?” Caesar asks. The Earthbender blinks when Luciano throws himself into his arms, sobbing into his chest. He sighs and hugs him close, rubbing his back.

“I…where is..?”

“Do you want me to ask Sergio to join us for tea?”

“…Yes.”

“Okay.”

“I have to…get Lulu…”

“Okay…do you want me to go while you…” Caesar flinches when Luciano’s hands tighten on him, pinching him hard enough to risk bruising. “I’ll come with you.”

“Don’t leave me alone.”

“I won’t.”

“Ever?”

“Ever.”


	30. Random Assortment Part Two

“Boys, please be careful,” Sergio pleaded, watching nervously as the three practiced some basic Firebending tactics with each other. He winced when a small burst of flame got close to one of their faces, the image of burning flesh in his head. “Boys, be careful!” he asked again, his voice a little tense this time.

It was at the third time; when there was a very real risk of someone’s hair catching on fire that Sergio could no longer control himself. “BOYS!” he shouted, “AH DONE TOL’ YA’LL THREE TIMES NAOW! BE CAREFUL WI’ YER FIRE OR YER GONNA GIT ‘URT!” He winced as soon as the words had left his mouth, clapping a hand over it as he groaned in frustration. It never failed; he always lost control of himself and slipped from his neutral speech to his actual accent whenever he became upset.

This was however the first time the triplets had ever heard their father talk like that at all.

And they immediately burst into tears and fled.

“Dammit,” Sergio muttered, following them back inside. He watched as the three took refuge behind their mother, talking about spies trying to imitate daddy or the possibility of spirits possessing daddy and making him talk funny.

Stella couldn’t help the amused look on her face as she looked over at the Waterbender, raising an eyebrow at him. “Accent?”

“…Accent.”

“We probably should have let them know about that sooner.”

“…Probably.”

 

* * *

 

The handkerchief was out of Caesar’s pocket at the first sign of blood. “Are you feeling alright?” the Earthbender asked, pressing the cloth against the startled servant’s nose, stopping any blood from landing on his clothes.

“Oh! Um…yes, I’m fine! It’s just uh…just a little nosebleed,” the servant laughed, trying to wave away the other’s concern. He smiled at the other, trying and failing to make a stray curl of black hair go down on his head.

“You’re new here?”

“Ah yes, I work with Ms. Stella. I help her run things around the fortress when the rest of the Family is busy.”

Caesar smiled, pressing the handkerchief into the other’s hand when he tried to give it back. “Keep it. You might have another one, yes?”

“Oh! Thank you um…”

“My name’s Caesar.”

“Right! My name’s Zacharie.” He giggled, apologetically, pressing the handkerchief once more to his nostrils.

“We’ll probably see each other around. This fortress isn’t as big as Ricardo thinks it is,” the Earthbender teased.

Zacharie laughed, nodding his head before perking up. “Oh! I’m going to be late! I’ll see you later! Thank you for the handkerchief!”

“No problem.”

 

* * *

 

Divina pouted to herself, watching as her twin polished one of his fancy little toys he called a “gun”. “You don’t even need that. You’re a Firebender,” she reminded him.

“Yeah, but these are just as fun,” Diego sniffed, holding the gun up to the light, admiring the way the metal shone in his hand.

“Why?”

“Because it’s like a combination of Firebending and Earthbending!”

“Earthbenders can’t control metal!”

“Caesar says he thinks those twins Joshua and Samuel are going to figure it out with that weirdo Daniel,” Diego countered.

Divina blew a raspberry, waving a dismissive hand in the air, “they’ll figure out how to do that when Luciano’s lemur flies again.”

 

* * *

 

Caesar watched as his brother stared into a bowl of water. The Earthbender frowned, tilting his head to the side as he watched Noah raise up a hand waving it over the bowl, making the water start to swirl around inside of it. “Brother..?”

Noah continued to do this for several more seconds in silence. Suddenly he stopped, shoulders falling as he pouted. “I have no idea what I was trying to do,” he finally confessed.

“Waterbending?” Caesar guessed.

“…Waterbending always makes my knee hurt,” Noah muttered.

“Well you’ve got Bloodbending…”

“Which scares everyone outside of the Family,” Noah reminded him with a moody snort.

Caesar rolled his eyes, sitting down beside the other. “You never cared about that before,” he reminded him.

“I’d still like to be able to do some kind of Waterbending,” Noah sighed.

“You’ll get it.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah! I’m sure Sergio could give you lessons!”

“I guess so…”


	31. Love to Serve

“We need you to try and figure out what the Family is planning. You’re a Waterbender so they’ll take you in no questions asked. All you have to do is send out messages once a month letting us know about their plans and tactics and we’ll be better prepared to deal with them. Can you do that for us?”

“I can do that, no problem.”

* * *

**You love the Family.**

_A year later he was grabbed by several soldiers after sending off a messenger falcon. He could only scream as the hawk was killed with a burst of flame, unable to use his own bending as a knife was stabbed into the small of his back, his legs crumpling under him. He could only shriek and sob as there were arguments over his body. Should they kill him or bring him to Ricardo? They should just slit his throat, right? But Ricardo ordered him to be caught unharmed and you idiot why did you have to stab him in the damned spine of all places?!_

**You love the Family.**

“ _Noah, your Bloodbending should be able to deal with the damage that’s been done, right?”_

“ _I can’t be completely positive about it but I guess I can try…”_

“ _I’ll help too, brother.”_

“ _Thanks, Caesar.”_

“ _As long as you both make sure he can use his legs once the sessions are successful.”_

“ _What are you going to do with him afterwards?”_

“ _You’ll see.”_

**You love the Family.**

_His body is numb from the waist down. The leather straps that bind him to the chair are for decoration…or mockery. His eyes are pried open with metal tools and all he can do is stare straight ahead, eyes focused on the single white candle spinning around his body at eye level._

**You love the Family.**

_He opens his mouth to scream again, throat sore and voice hoarse from hours like this. He can feel himself becoming tired and weak. He was never as strong as the other Benders Vanessa and the Avatar had gotten to help them were. Maybe he wasn’t ready for this mission. Maybe he was just…_

**You love the…**

* * *

Zacharie gasps and whirls around when he feels a hand touching the small of his back and he laughs up at the soldier who had touched him. “Joshua! I thought you were training with your brother and Daniel until nightfall?”

“Training still requires taking a break every now and then,” the Earthbender reminded him, kissing him on the end of his nose. “Plus, I wanted to show you something!”

“Oh? What?” The Waterbender watched as his lover held up a metal marble.

“Hold out your hand, palm up.” He waited for the other to comply, placing the marble in the center of his palm carefully, ensuring that it wouldn’t roll around. When he was satisfied he raised up his own hand, holding it palm down over the marble.

For a brief moment there was nothing and then Zacharie felt the marble move. “Oh! Joshua! Did you do that?!” he asked, laughing as the other took the marble back with a proud smile.

“I think we’re really going to find a way to do it,” Joshua said. He broke into a wide grin, hugging Zacharie tight around his middle before swinging him around once in a full circle, making him laugh and slap his chest to put him down again. “Proud of me?”

“Always! Silly man…proud of moving tiny bits of metal!”

“Just you wait until I’m bending huge sheets of the stuff!” he warned. “Sammy and I might be able to teach others and then the Fire Nation will be fucked and the world will be ours, right?”

“You mean the world will belong to the Family,” Zacharie gently corrected. “We serve the Family, remember?”

Joshua wrinkled his nose slightly but nodded his head. “I suppose…”

“Speaking of which…I’ve got to get back to work. I’m supposed to help Stella figure out some battle formations her husband can use during their push into Fire Nation colonies. I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Don’t work too hard.”

Zacharie laughed, kissing the other once on either cheek. “You know I can’t promise that. I love serving the Family.”


	32. Wake Up Call

Lulu chirped as she crawled over the sheets to the head of the bed. The flying lemur reached out, patting a pile of thick black and silver curls gently, as if unsure of her actions. When there was no response she did it again, a little harder this time. She pouted when nothing happened, chittering in annoyance before turning to try the other head.

Caesar woke with a grunt. The Earthbender pushed himself up into a sitting up position, yawning as he offered her a smile. “G’mornin’, Little Lulu. Hungry?” he asked. He laughed when she nodded firmly, looking over at the slumbering Airbender. “I suppose it’s time for beauty to wake up then, eh?”

Reaching out, Caesar carefully lifted up Luciano’s hair, moving it aside. He leaned forward, pressing warm lips to the back of Luciano’s neck.

And then he blew a loud raspberry.

"AH! CAESAR!"

Caesar laughed as Luciano whirled around, accepting the slap to his cheek. “Good morning to you too!”

"Unrefined beast!"

"That’s what you said last night too."

Luciano pouted and Caesar kissed him on the lips to cool his temper.


	33. Small Ripples

Sergio could not say that he was disappointed with his life, all things considered. He was alive for one thing and he was well aware that without Ricardo he would be dead. Even after Ricardo’s plans had failed and the Family was forced to flee back to one of the Firebender’s smaller fortresses; they still stayed together as a family. they were forced to focus on defense rather than offense but that gave them time to settle down, build up their families and work on mental and physical health.

Speaking of building up families…

The Waterbender looked down at the fourth addition to his family, a little girl. She was quiet compared to how her brothers had been but Sergio was sure that he would come to wish for silence soon enough once she found her voice. For now he and Stella were content with their child, raising her among a far more subdued Family now.

The sound of Luciano’s soft singing made Sergio look up. The Airbender’s spiraling mental stability had seemed to stabilize after a confrontation with Avatar Tamika. He was no longer as violent as he had once been, using his bending for more peaceful uses, unwilling to cause harm any longer.

Sergio was considering calling the man over when movement from his cup of tea caught his eye. He turned his head sharply, eyes growing wide as he watched what remained of his tea leaving the cup in a solid orb.

"Noah?" he asked. His heart started to race when he saw no sign of the Bloodbender around and he looked back, watching as his daughter happily took hold of the orb, obviously playing with it. She made the orb waver and shift between the palms of her hands, bending the liquid so easily.

Sergio’s eyes started to burn as he started to tear up. He had not been upset when the triplets had taken after their mother but he also could not deny the hope of having one child to teach his Bending techniques to, especially after the Fire Nation’s attempt at complete genocide.

Wordlessly Sergio hugged his daughter a little tighter, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, weeping quietly to himself as she continued to play with her newfound Waterbending.


	34. After The Failure

**Airbender Stories**

Luciano was talking about the Air Temple where he had grown up. This alone was enough to make several members of the Family perk up, looking at the Airbender in surprise. The fact that he was also speaking  _positively_ about his home made even the servants stop their work, listening in on the Bender sitting in the small garden Caesar had helped Sergio build in one of the spare rooms of their new home.

“A lot of people seem to think that we only lived in the four temples but that’s not true,” Luciano hummed, scratching gently under Lulu’s chin when the lemur leaned forward for it. His mask lay forgotten at his side, allowing everyone to see his face freely now from Family to servant to complete stranger. “We were nomads for the most part. The four temples were merely there as a settled location for our strongest monks to come together and train the young ones. I was raised at the Eastern Temple.”

“You’ve never spoken about your home like this before,” Sergio gently pointed out, taking a seat as he stepped inside.

Luciano perked up a little at the observation, glancing over at the Waterbender. He watched as a few others stepped into the garden now, blushing a little as Caesar sat down beside him, slipping an arm around his middle. “…I never wished to talk about it before but now I…suppose I have all the time in the world to think about it now…”

“You should write down what you remember,” Ricardo offered.

“Why would I do that?”

“Because the Fire Nation is going to write their own version of how things went,” the Firebender reminded him, “and if that’s the only book out there; how do you think they’re going to write about your people?”

The Airbender considered the other’s words, shrugging his shoulders. “I suppose so…” he finally agreed.

“But that doesn’t mean you can’t keep talking about it with us!” Noah pressed, poking at him with his cane. “Tell us more about the temple!”

Lulu trilled excitedly and Luciano found himself unable to do anything else but oblige.

* * *

**No More**

Zacharie lay on his back, sunning himself up on the ramparts. He hummed softly to himself, watching as the water from the bowl resting on his stomach slowly rose up, struggling to maintain its physical state as he tried to make it collect into his hands. Ever since the Family’s defeat and escape from Desert Bluffs; the Waterbender had started to focus more on relearning his own Bending, something he had lost after his capture and brainwashing. Things were different now however and he was focused on getting his ability back.

He didn’t even look up when Ricardo approached, bright eyes focused on his work. “Zacharie, I need you to go and find…”

“Why don’t you go and ask an actual  _servant_  and not someone whose busy fixing what  _you_ destroyed in the first place?”

Ricardo’s eyes widened ever so slightly at the rude interruption but he soon caught himself, clicking his teeth together softly in annoyance as he was forced to nod his head. “…My mistake.”

“It’s not your first and I bet it won’t be your last either.”

* * *

**Sleep Trouble**

Lulu was the first to wake up, shrieking in terror as she leapt out of her hammock. The lemur whimpered and chittered to herself, forcing her way down the front of Luciano’s nightshirt, trembling under the material and against his warm skin.

The Airbender woke up a moment later with a surprised gasp, sitting up with a frown as he gently hugged the lemur close to him. “Lulu?” he asked. He waited patiently as the lemur poked her head up, whimpering miserably as she nuzzled against him, her small body still trembling. “Nightmare?” he asked. He smiled sadly, slipping out of bed and out of his room. “Come on then, we’ll go to the garden to try and relax, hm?”

He was polite enough to feign surprise when he saw the blood brothers Caesar and Noah already in the garden, wrapped in blankets with a pot of tea and some sweets between them. He nodded his head in greeting, waiting for Caesar to lift up his own blanket before sitting down under it beside him. “It’s a very nice night for such things, hm?” he asked, leaving the true reason for their being awake unsaid.

“But of course,” Caesar nodded, pouring some tea for Luciano. He pressed the cup into his hands, smiling as he offered Lulu one of the little flower shaped sweets. “Noah and I like coming out here in the middle of the night…it helps us compress and talk between each other, right?”

“…We literally both had night terrors and couldn’t go back to sleep,” Noah said, giving Caesar an odd look. “What are  _you_  talking about?”

Caesar slapped a hand over his face and Luciano giggled, shaking his head in fondness.


	35. Thoughts Over Hotpots

He watched as the broth swirled around, matching the way Zacharie’s hand lazily moved above the hotpot. Joshua smirked, noting the way the Waterbender was trying to move all of the mussels and scallops over to where he sat, leaving him with the strips of beef and sliced sausages. “So what did you do today?” he asked, picking up his sticks when Zacharie lowered his hand to do the same.

“Nothing much,” Zacharie hummed, looking up at the Earthbender with a warm smile. “It felt nice,” he confessed, “I didn’t have to do anything if I didn’t want to.”

“You couldn’t have possibly spent the whole day doing  _nothing_ ,” Joshua teased, spearing a sausage link with a stick before bringing it to his mouth.

“Well…I did do a few things,” he said with a shrug. He sucked the broth off of a scallop before popping it into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully before swallowing. “I spent some time in the garden with Caesar,” he said.

“Oh yeah?”

“We were arranging some of the new plants Sergio got,” he said with a shrug. “What did you do?” he asked, perking up a little as he picked a shrimp, nibbling on it as he looked at Joshua.

“Was looking at some pieces of property.”

“Yeah?”

“Somewhere far from the Fire Nation and this whole conflict,” Joshua nodded, “I just want to get away from all of this bullshit. The Family wasn’t much better in the end,” he muttered. “They were just going to take over the world in a different fashion.”

Zacharie looked up, watching the way Joshua glared into the hotpot, stabbing into it with a stick to try and get another piece of sausage. He reached out, easily picking up a piece with his own two sticks, chuckling at his lover before raising it up to his lips. “You’re impossible,” he murmured.

Joshua locked eyes with Zacharie, smirking as he opened his mouth, allowing himself to be fed. He reached out as he chewed, pulling him over, careful of the hotpot before kissing him.

“Joshua…”

“We’re going to find somewhere nice and quiet,” he promised, “somewhere far away from all of this fighting, yeah? No worries about anything but what we’re going to be doing to avoid feeling bored!”

“I can think of a few things…” Zacharie hummed.

“Oh?”

Zacharie pushed the small table out of the way, climbing into Joshua’s lap. “Yeah.”


	36. Wrong Direction

“CAESAR! CAESAR!?” Everyone smart enough immediately makes themselves scarce when they hear the Airbender’s shrieks. The masked man staggered down the hallway, his normally well groomed ponytail undone, giving him a wild appearance. “Caesar?!” he whimpered.

"Luciano?" Ricardo opened the door to the war room, frowning as he watched the Airbender walk past. "Luciano..?"

He whirled around, looking at Ricardo with wide eyes. “I…a scout came back! They said they were routed…I…where is Caesar? He was sent west?!”

"Luciano…"

"The scout said the Fire Nation was waiting for them! Where was Caesar sent?!"

The Firebender reached out, squeezing Luciano’s shoulder. “Caesar and his brother were sent east. They…”

"Luciano, I heard you were upset?"  
Caesar asked, approaching from the front. “We just got back and someone said…”

The Earthbender fell silent when he was hugged tightly, sighing as he returned the gesture. He rubbed Luciano’s back in comfort, looking over his bowed head to Ricardo for help.

"He missed you," Ricardo said with a small smile.

"Obviously.

"I’ll get the hotpot ready to share between you two."

"You too," Luciano mumbled against Caesar’s chest.

"Oh?"

"Yes…"

Ricardo nodded, sighing as he went to get things ready.

Later Luciano would sniff and deny everything.


	37. Family Portrait

“Noah, you’re making this harder than it needs to be…”

“I don’t care.”

“Noah, it’s supposed to be a Family portrait…”

“I’m here.”

“Noah!”

The Bloodbender however simply shifted so that he was further in the shadows of the tapestry hanging on one of the walls, refusing to come out from the corner he had placed himself in. He had been displeased at the idea of sitting for the painter in the first place but since he had been outvoted by everyone else in the Family, he had had no choice but to at least make an appearance.

That did not however mean he had to like it.

“This is going to take forever,” Diego grumbled, rolling his eyes as he broke his pose, resting on arm on his sister Divina’s shoulder.

“Diego, don’t ruin my dress!”

“I’m pretty sure it was ruined when you put it on.”

“I’m going to set you on fire…” Divina warned.

“After the picture.”

“Fine.”

“Noah…” Caesar warned, giving his older brother a look when he refused to move.

Noah responded by purposefully stepping  _behind_  the tapestry fully this time.

“Oh come on!”

“Perhaps we could have him added in later?” Sergio offered, trying to defuse the situation before it got worse.

“I doubt he’ll stand still to have himself painted alone later if he won’t do it in a group,” Luciano pointed out.

“I got it,” Ricardo snorted. The Firebender calmly walked over to the tapestry and reached out, grabbing Noah firmly by the arm, dragging him out from behind it. “Let’s go.”

“Hey! No fair!” Noah protested as he was plopped down into a chair beside Caesar.

“If you move I’ll set you on fire,” Ricardo warned.

“Try it and I’ll make your blood flow in reverse,” Noah countered.

“I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to set you on fire first.”

Noah opened his mouth to argue further but was stopped when Caesar placed a hand on top of his head, as if he were turning off an alarm clock. With a snort he closed his mouth and looked forward, getting some semblance of revenge by refusing to smile the entire time the portrait was being painted instead.


	38. Birthday Breakfast

He was woken up by Berry and Lulu. Lulu had dropped down onto his face, chirruping as she started to give his cheeks a few light smacks with a hand, her overly large ears pricking up when he opened an eye. “Hm?” he asked.

And then Berry turned his bed over with her massive head.

Sergio let out a startled shriek as he found himself switching places with the bed, huffing as he struggled to free himself. When he was finally out he saw that Lulu had escaped without an issue, sitting calmly on Berry’s head with her ears up and twitching.

“…So Ah guess m'supposed ta be awake fer somethin’ then?” he mumbled. Berry barked in his face in reply and he sighed, rolling his eyes as he nodded his head. “Gimme a few minutes,” he said, watching as the massive animal padded out of his room.

Berry was off like a shot as soon as he stepped out, barking over her shoulder as she led the way down the halls to the outside garden. Sergio frowned but continued to follow after her, hoping to figure out just what the animals thought they were doing.

He remembered it was his birthday when he stepped out and was immediately hit in the face with flowers. “Happy Birthday!” Caesar proudly sang out.

“Was this yer idea?” Sergio asked.

The Earthbender shrugged, “the wake up call was anyway. Did she flip your bed over?”

“Hoy.”

Caesar laughed, shaking his head. “Good girl!”

“I made breakfast!” Divina announced, throwing her hands up into the air. “And  _everyone_  is going to eat it!” she added, shooting a few glares at whoever made a noise of disgust.

“I helped,” Stella promised.

“But it was my idea,” Divina added.

“True,” Stella conceded.

“It’s way too early,” Noah mumbled, his eyes still firmly closed as he sat at the table, a glass of wine in his hand. “Couldn’t we do this in the afternoon when I’m actually awake?”

“Noah, you don’t wake up until five in the afternoon most of the time,” Caesar reminded him.

“…Couldn’t we do this in the afternoon when I’m actually awake?” Noah repeated.

“Enough talk! More showing off what I made!” Divina demanded.

Sergio sat down beside Luciano, glancing over at the blind Airbender with a fond smile. “G'mornin’.”

“Too early to hide the accent?” Luciano asked.

“Yer daughter was smackin’ me in the face.”

Luciano laughed, holding out his arm for Lulu to grab onto as Berry walked past. The flying lemur climbed up onto his shoulder, nuzzling against his cheek before settling down. “She was only doing her job.”

Sergio snorted but smiled anyway, kissing Luciano on the temple before looking up as Divina finally revealed what she had made.

“Honey bread for breakfast!” she shouted.

“Is the bread supposed to be burnt?” Noah asked.

“Shut up!” Divina snapped.

Behind Sergio, Ricardo approached, placing a hand on the Plantbender’s shoulder as he leaned down. “Happy Birthday, from your family,” he said.

**Author's Note:**

> Noah belongs to http://strexecutioner.tumblr.com/  
> Luciano belongs to http://smilingindoctrinator.tumblr.com/  
> Sergio belongs to http://eruditexperimenter.tumblr.com/  
> Caesar belongs to http://lucentsynthesist.tumblr.com/  
> Ricardo belongs to http://strexcorpsguardian.tumblr.com/  
> Stella belongs to http://strexycorpertm.tumblr.com/  
> Zacharie belongs to http://strawberriesandstrex.tumblr.com/  
> Joshua belongs to http://silentsecurity.tumblr.com/  
> Diego belongs to http://videntefernandez.tumblr.com/  
> Divina belongs to http://mistress-strex.tumblr.com/


End file.
